Sagar Biswas :
Process has been initiated by police and other concerned departments to send back international mafia don Abdul Rauf Daud Merchant to his home country India freeing him from all sorts of charges.
Daud Merchant alias Rauf Raja, an alleged ‘hitman’ of the Abu Salem gang and also a close aide of Dubai-based Indian mafia Daud Ibrahim, is now in Kashimpur high-security prison being rearrested by Bangladesh police on December 2, 2014 under section 54 soon after he was freed getting bail.
A source close to Detective and Criminal Intelligence Division told The New Nation on Friday that police
had already submitted prayer to Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court in Dhaka to free him [Daud Merchant] from all charges, earlier filed by police for entering Bangladesh with fake passport, visa and identity card.
The hearing in this regard is likely to be held on January 31. And if, Daud Merchant gets relief from section 54, there will be no bar for his release from jail. He would be sent back to India like ULFA [United Liberation Front of Assam] insurgent leader Anup Chetia, the source said.
“Daud Merchant was rearrested by the detectives in 2014 as a suspect under section 54. As no allegation was proved against him till the date despite intensive investigation, the detective branch on December 9 applied to the court seeking his relief from section 54,” Maruf Hossaion Sardar, Deputy Commissioner, Detective and Criminal Intelligence Division, said.
A Mumbai Court on April 29, 2002 sentenced Daud Merchant to a life term with 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment following his conviction for gunning down the music baron, Gulshan Kumar, in Mumbai on August 12, 1997.
But he was reported absconding by Mumbai police after being released on parole for 14 days in April, 2009 to see his sick mother in Mumbra, a tiny township about 40 km from Mumbai.
Being absconded, he crossed the border and illegally entered Bangladesh. In this backdrop, the Detective Branch of Bangladesh arrested Daud Merchant along with his accomplice Zahid Sheikh on May 27, 2009 from the residence of one Kamal Mia at Mourail in Bramhanbaria district.
According to police, both Daud Merchant and Zahid Sheikh managed Bangladeshi passports and fake nationality certificates. Not only that, Zahid also had managed a national identity card. Daud Merchant adopted the name Abdur Rahman and Zahid took the name Arif Sheikh on their Bangladeshi passports, police added.
Interestingly, the detective branch had sought remand for Daud Merchant after he was rearrested under section 54 saying that he was moving around Bangladesh without valid passport and visa probably to commit any sort of crime.
Meanwhile, some legal experts of Bangladesh have termed the overall process as ‘unlawful’ while police did not file any case against Daud Merchant for entering Bangladesh illegally. They said it is highly illegal to keep anyone in jail for 14 months under section 54 without any valid charge.
“So far as I realise, the police have applied to court breaking conventional norm of criminal procedure act. We believe, the job has been done playing hide and seek game for serving mere personal interest of some police officials,” Barrister Shafique Ahmed, former Law Minister, said.
Echoing the same, another legal expert Sanjida Khanam MP, told The New Nation last night, “Police can’t keep anyone more than 24 hours. At the same time, police cannot send prayer to court seeking relief of anyone from section 54. In that case, the family member of the accused can submit prayer to the court, not the police.”
Process has been initiated by police and other concerned departments to send back international mafia don Abdul Rauf Daud Merchant to his home country India freeing him from all sorts of charges.
Daud Merchant alias Rauf Raja, an alleged ‘hitman’ of the Abu Salem gang and also a close aide of Dubai-based Indian mafia Daud Ibrahim, is now in Kashimpur high-security prison being rearrested by Bangladesh police on December 2, 2014 under section 54 soon after he was freed getting bail.
A source close to Detective and Criminal Intelligence Division told The New Nation on Friday that police
had already submitted prayer to Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court in Dhaka to free him [Daud Merchant] from all charges, earlier filed by police for entering Bangladesh with fake passport, visa and identity card.
The hearing in this regard is likely to be held on January 31. And if, Daud Merchant gets relief from section 54, there will be no bar for his release from jail. He would be sent back to India like ULFA [United Liberation Front of Assam] insurgent leader Anup Chetia, the source said.
“Daud Merchant was rearrested by the detectives in 2014 as a suspect under section 54. As no allegation was proved against him till the date despite intensive investigation, the detective branch on December 9 applied to the court seeking his relief from section 54,” Maruf Hossaion Sardar, Deputy Commissioner, Detective and Criminal Intelligence Division, said.
A Mumbai Court on April 29, 2002 sentenced Daud Merchant to a life term with 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment following his conviction for gunning down the music baron, Gulshan Kumar, in Mumbai on August 12, 1997.
But he was reported absconding by Mumbai police after being released on parole for 14 days in April, 2009 to see his sick mother in Mumbra, a tiny township about 40 km from Mumbai.
Being absconded, he crossed the border and illegally entered Bangladesh. In this backdrop, the Detective Branch of Bangladesh arrested Daud Merchant along with his accomplice Zahid Sheikh on May 27, 2009 from the residence of one Kamal Mia at Mourail in Bramhanbaria district.
According to police, both Daud Merchant and Zahid Sheikh managed Bangladeshi passports and fake nationality certificates. Not only that, Zahid also had managed a national identity card. Daud Merchant adopted the name Abdur Rahman and Zahid took the name Arif Sheikh on their Bangladeshi passports, police added.
Interestingly, the detective branch had sought remand for Daud Merchant after he was rearrested under section 54 saying that he was moving around Bangladesh without valid passport and visa probably to commit any sort of crime.
Meanwhile, some legal experts of Bangladesh have termed the overall process as ‘unlawful’ while police did not file any case against Daud Merchant for entering Bangladesh illegally. They said it is highly illegal to keep anyone in jail for 14 months under section 54 without any valid charge.
“So far as I realise, the police have applied to court breaking conventional norm of criminal procedure act. We believe, the job has been done playing hide and seek game for serving mere personal interest of some police officials,” Barrister Shafique Ahmed, former Law Minister, said.
Echoing the same, another legal expert Sanjida Khanam MP, told The New Nation last night, “Police can’t keep anyone more than 24 hours. At the same time, police cannot send prayer to court seeking relief of anyone from section 54. In that case, the family member of the accused can submit prayer to the court, not the police.”
